Hungarian Americans of Cleveland

Cleveland Press Articles

Publisher here to escort crown

By Al Thompson, Press Washington Writer
Plain Dealer, JAN 3 1978

WASHINGTON-Cleveland Hungarian newspaper publisher Zoltan Gombos will be a delegation scheduled to fly to Budapest Thursday to return the 1,000-year-old crown of St. Stephen to the Hungarian government. The press learned today. A State Department spokesman said names of those in the delegation, expected to number 20 or more, cannot be released until the list is finalized.


Gombos publishes Hungarian language newspapers both here and in New York, including the Szabadsag, 87-year-old Cleveland weekly, which enjoys a national circulation and is the largest Hungarian paper in the U.S.

Much controversy has attended President Carter's announcement on Dec. 15 that the crow of St. Stephen, who was Hungary's first monarch, would be returned in ceremonies scheduled to be held in Budapest Friday and Saturday.

The treasured crown has been in American hands since the end of World War II, when it was given to American troops for safekeeping.

Garter and the State Department have said they intended to return the crown as a gesture of appreciation for improved conditions in Hungary and improved Hungarian-American relations.

Tentative plans call for the delegation to return to Washington late Saturday.


WASHINGTON (UPI)--- Sen. Robert Dole asked the Supreme Court today to issue an emergency order blocking the return of the historic Crown of St. Stephen to Hungary.

"The transfer of the Holy Crown of St. Stephen is a matter of such inter-national significance that it may only be accomplished pursuant to a treaty" requiring approval by a two-thirds vote of the Senate, the Kansas Republican argued.